Day 12: Welcome Mass

Yes, I know it's been awhile since I've written. We have just been so very busy.  Today we had both of our classes.  In my history of Rome class we are watching a British-Italian TV series for the last hour called ROME. It's a very exciting series and the whole class enjoys it. It's noted for its historical accuracy.

St. Ignatius in downtown Rome

After classes, Ashley and I got ready for the Welcome Mass for us students that was held downtown Rome.  We had to go to the Saint Ignatius Church, which was extremely beautiful and old. We left around 5:45 and took the bus down and had to walk a considerable distance there.  I'm not sure why Loyola just didn't charter a bus for everyone, it would have been easier for all of us.  Like I said, the church was very beautiful.  The chapel that we celebrated mass in was called the "Assumpta Est Maria in Caelum" (translated from Latin as The Assumption of Mary into the Sky). The chapel itself had many beautiful frescoes and was built sometime around 1649.

The Chapel in St. Ignatius Church

Ashley admiring the chapel's beauty!

The mass was celebrated by Father Charles, a teacher we both know from Loyola's Lake Shore Campus back in Chicago and a Rome Center priest.  Ashley and I both brought up the gifts before communion.  The whole event was a great experience.

Post-Church

After Church, we all walked as a group to the restaurant that we had pre-paid for, that I have since forgotten the name of.  It wasn't so great.  All they had to drink was sparkly water and wine.  I tried the wine with the Alfredo spaghetti we had and I officially will never be drinking wine EVER again with a meal.  It did not taste very good.  Grandpa probably would have liked it! A lot of the teachers that were there got drunk and it just wasn't that great of a time. Because of it, Ashley and I and a few others left early to take the bus home and went to bed.

Day 11

Breakfast

For breakfast Ashley and I had a banana and Frosted Flakes again. Today we only had our Italian classes.  After my Italian class we had to go on a field assignment for a a grade.  We had to go on a bus downtown and transfer to a metro station and get to certain piazza and gelateria.  Eight of my classmates and myself and Ashely went on the excursion.

delicious!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
We made it to the Metro which was more similar to the Metro cars in New York City.  There are few seats which leaves more room for standing.  When we go off at the right stop we were in a weird part of Rome.  None of us knew why our teacher had us go so far out of the way from campus.  It was almost like the China town of Rome and it wasn't the best area.  We successfully found the G. Fassi gelateria after asking for directions.  It is the oldest Italian gelateria in the country.  It was soooo good! It was maybe even better than Old Bridge! It was so sweet and tasty.

Carmel and White Chocolate

Chocolate and White Chocolate with their famous whipped cream!

After leaving the gelateria, we went on a hunt for five restaurants in the area.  We had to write down what their specialties were in Italian and we will use them along with our gelato experience in a composition later this week. After that Ashley and I took the Metro and got off near St. Peter's Square to go eat dinner.  We ate at an outdoor restaurant called Macondo.

One of the waiters wanted his picture taken next to the menu

We both got a prosciutto parma (thin ham and cantaloupe) and for the main course Ashley got four cheese gnocchi and I got tortellini with ham and cream.  They were both pretty good. The Cokes we got weren't too good.  In fact when you buy anything to drink here the cheapest drink to get is soda which is roughly €3.50.  That converts to about a gallon of gasoline back home.  And the cup size is half of what we get for sodas back home.  It's pretty annoying.

The appetizer

Four Cheese Gnocchi

Tortellini with ham and cream

After that Ashley and I walked back to the bus stop which requires us passing the Vatican.  It never gets old walking through there to get to the bus.  Tonight we stopped for a little while and just sat on a bench overlooking it. After that we caught the bus and made it home and have since been doing homework.

Day 10: 4th of July

Today was Independence Day and we finally got the Internet back! (Sorry for the lack of communication the last few days) We had waffles for breakfast which were only OK.  They were a little too sweet.  Classes went well and I'm really enjoying my history of Rome class.  It is so exciting.  In Ashley's Italian culture and context class, she ate bruschetto (thin ham) and melon and vinsanto (a type of sweet wine used in religious ceremonies).  She didn't care too much for the wine. 

Because it was the 4th of July we had burgers for lunch along with potato salad, french fries, and watermelon.  Everyone decided that they all wanted to go to McDonalds downtown to celebrate the 4th.  I was pretty sick of burgers but I went with Ashley anyways.  Instead I got some delicious ham and cheese pizza and brought it into the McDonalds. 

We took the bus back home afterwards and stopped at a local grocery store for some milk and ice cream.  We have since been doing homework in the library and I have been doing my best to write about the past several days on here.

Blogging in the library

Studying

Day 9

Banana for breakfast

We woke up on Sunday and ate some bananas and Frosted Flakes for breakfast.  Our original plans of going with some friends to the lake fell through because we couldn't get directions.  The internet went down on the whole campus and has been down for the last couple of days.  Along with the many power outages this campus has in the afternoons and the lack of air condition in the class rooms, sometimes it seems impossible that this place is an educational institution.  But we didn't let the day go to waste.  Ashely and I went downtown around lunchtime and ate at BURGER KING!

Burger King!

Yes it might seem odd that we went to an American fast food place in Rome, but we wanted something fast and good.  Some foods are expensive in Rome and Burger King happens to be one of them.  You had to buy the ketchup for your fries if you wanted it.  Nevertheless we were quite satisfied.

Satisfied!

After eating we walked past Old Bridge.  Old Bridge is the most well-known gelato place in Rome.  It is like the Carl’s of Fredericksburg.  Each time Ashley and I have walked by it the line is out the door and around the corner.  We timed it just right that we walked by just as they were reopening after siesta.  We were one of the first ones in line and enjoyed ourselves some DELICIOUS gelato.  I can see why it is so popular.  

Vanilla and Chocolate

Mint and Chocolate gelato

 

From there we walked to a cat sanctuary that was located in the middle of some ruins.  Apparently it is a popular attraction in Rome and it was recommended that we see it.  The cats roam freely amongst the ruins of a temple and inside is a clinic that takes care of more sickly cats.  We saw one cat that was brought in completely paralyzed and was now able to limp around.  It was very impressive.

Cat sanctuary in the ruins

sleeping cat

Afterward we went back to the Pantheon, which was closed the last time we visited it.  We got to go inside.  It was really really cool.  Inside the large dome was a modern day church and surrounding the walls were little chapels and tombs.  One tomb was of the famous painter Raphael. Another was of the first king of Italy.

The top of the dome

Inside the Pantheon

After visiting the Pantheon, we went to Piazza Navona and at a delicious dinner there right next to the Fountain of the Four Rivers.  We ate spaghetti with meatballs and bruschetta!

sooooo good!

After eating we fell into a beautiful church that was under renovation.  The interior was beautiful!

After leaving the church we just walked the streets of Italy.  We fell into one vintage store where I made my first non-food related purchase.  It was a small painting of Herbie for 3 Euros.

Herbie!

Upon leaving the store, we went home while it was still light out.  We spent the rest of the evening doing homework and then went to bed.

Day 8: Villa Borghese

We were fed up with toast with butter.  Fortunately and unfortunately the bar in the Rome Center that we got our breakfast was closed.  We had both gotten up pretty late at around 11am because we were tired from the previous day.  Consequently we were both very hungry and once again no food was to be found.  So it was time to take matters into our own hands and we went GROCERY SHOPPING.  We went to a small grocery store not too far away and bought some Frosted Flakes, milk, chocolate chip cookies, and bananas.  On the way back we stopped at a small farmer's market and bought two delicious green apples for fifty cents.  The apples were delicious because they don't use pesticides in Italy.  The milk here was also very very delicious for the same reason.  I wish this food tasted the same in the U.S.  Also at the grocery store we bought a cheap can of cat food.  As we were leaving for the store, a cat that looks very similar to Blackie came up to us at the Rome Center meowing.  It was very hungry.  When we came back we gave it the can of food and it was very happy.  Blackie II, as we have named her, never fails to come up to us as we are leaving or coming back home.

Feeding Blackie II

After eating breakfast Ashley and I got on a bus to go to Villa Borghese, one of the top attractions in Rome.  It is a very large park, similar to Central Park in NYC, and it has many museums and other attractions in it.  It was a little bit of a walk to get there and we saw another side of Rome we had not seen yet.  Before we climbed up to reach the top of the mountain of where the park is, we reached a plaza called Piazza del Popolo.  It has a famous fountain with lions.

On top of one of the lions

When we climbed to the top entrance of Villa Borghese, we were greeted with a beautiful view of Rome!

The view from the top!

We then proceeded to walk around the heart-shaped park, which was quite large.  There was many sculptures and art throughout the area.

Map of the park

One of the sculptures

Walking around was very relaxing.  There were many Italians and tourists just enjoying a typical Saturday afternoon.  It was possible to rent segways and bicycle cars for a small price, and many were riding them throughout the park.  Also nearby was a church where a wedding was going on and a replica of the Globe Theater in England where they had Shakespearean plays performed in Italian.  Ashley and I stopped in a small cafe for lunch called Pic Nic.  It was small little place and the waiter spoke English.  We ordered ham with buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes with lettuce sandwiches.  It was very tasty! For dessert Ashely got strawberries with whipped cream which she loved (especially the whipped cream)! I got chocolate ice cream which was also very good.

The Meal

Dessert

After finishing lunch, we walked around the park some more and we laid in a large field for awhile watching many dogs playing.  From there we went to the zoo!

Zoo entrance

 It was located in the back of the park and it was very different from U.S zoos. It was pretty cool and a lot of fun.  They had just about every type of animal you could think of.  Except not to many sea animals aside from a couple of large seals.  We spent about an hour there before the zoo closed.

Baby African elephants

BEARS!

After we left the zoo, Ashley and I went back to the entrance of the park and watched the sun set from the top of the mountain.  From there we sought dinner at a place called T-Bone Station.  It was an American restaurant.  I got a burger that was extremely delicious, but I don't want to talk any more about it because it was a very poor experience.

The delicious burger!

After eating there, we went home and went to bed.